Vatican Official Tells TIME: 'There's a Problem With John Kerry...'

Time.com ^ | 4-5-04 | KAREN TUMULTY AND PERRY BACON JR.

[truthandlife]

The last time a major political party put forward a Roman Catholic candidate for President, he had to confront bigotry and suspicion that he would be taking orders from Rome. Forty-four years later, the Democrats are poised to nominate another Catholic—another Senator from Massachusetts whose initials happen to be J.F.K.—and this time, the controversy over his religion may develop within the Catholic Church itself. Kerry's positions on some hot-button issues aren't sitting well with members of the church elite. Just listen to a Vatican official, who is an American: "People in Rome are becoming more and more aware that there's a problem with John Kerry, and a potential scandal with his apparent profession of his Catholic faith and some of his stances, particularly abortion."

But it's far from clear whether the greater political problem is Kerry's or the church's. "I don't think it complicates things at all," Kerry told TIME in an interview aboard his campaign plane on Saturday, the first in which he has discussed his faith extensively. "We have a separation of church and state in this country. As John Kennedy said very clearly, I will be a President who happens to be Catholic, not a Catholic President." Still, when Kennedy ran for President in 1960, a candidate could go through an entire campaign without ever having to declare his position on abortion—much less stem cells, cloning or gay marriage. It was before Roe v. Wade, bioethics, school vouchers, gay rights and a host of other social issues became the ideological fault lines that divide the two political parties and also divide some Catholics from their church....

If anything, the church is getting tougher. The Vatican issued last year a "doctrinal note" warning Catholic lawmakers that they have a "grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them." When Kerry campaigned in Missouri in February, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke publicly warned him "not to present himself for Communion"—an ostracism that Canon Law 915 reserves for "those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin." Kerry was scheduled to be in St. Louis last Sunday, and told TIME, "I certainly intend to take Communion and continue to go to Mass as a Catholic."

But, inevitably, his religion and his politics will clash. Already, one employee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington says he has lost his job as a result of his political activities on Kerry's behalf.

[BibChr]

Vatican Official Tells TIME: 'There's a Problem With John Kerry...'

I've said there ought to be a "Well, DUH!" ping list. Maybe there also should be a "Ya think??" ping list.

Dan
(c;

[Piquaboy]

It is about time that the Catholic Church got tough on these pretend Catholics. Teddy Kennedy is another one.

[JusPasenThru]

American people to the DNC: I think there is a problem with John Kerry.

[mountaineer]

I will be a President who happens to be Catholic, not a Catholic President .... I certainly intend to take Communion and continue to go to Mass as a Catholic.

I'm not Catholic, but if the church says he cannot take communion because of his pro-abortion votes and whatever other offenses he's committed, it seems offensive - and it should offend Catholic voters - that he thinks he can (just like he did while on vacation on Idaho). He's thumbing his nose at the church, big time.

[Judith Anne]

John Kerry is NOT Catholic. He can lie about it, of course, but he is NOT Catholic.

[SamAdams76]

Personally, I think a Catholic ought to comply with the directives of their church. Otherwise, what is the point of being a Catholic? I know Catholics who go against their own church regarding abortion, birth control, women in the priesthood and many other issues. It just makes no sense to me. I mean, it's like Ted Kennedy declaring himself to be a Republican.

[Sacajaweau]

I went to a Catholic High School. We were put on buses, given Kennedy hats and shipped to a Kennedy speech in our City (Rochester).

In school, we talked about the "obligation" to vote for him because he was Catholic and therefore "better" than any other candidate. I protested saying that "qualifications" mean nothing? I got suspended.

I can tell you one thing for sure. His "groupie" relationships were never mentioned.

[Aquinasfan]

Kerry was scheduled to be in St. Louis last Sunday, and told TIME, "I certainly intend to take Communion and continue to go to Mass as a Catholic."

Kerry and every other pro-abortion Catholic politician must be excommunicated. A Kerry presidency will be horribly scandalous. He will represent a terrible model for Catholics. Bishop O'Malley should have excommunicated Kerry and Kennedy as soon as he became bishop. Excommunication now can be played as a "political" move. But better late than never.

[madprof98]

O'Malley already has a plateful of controversy. Kerry, for his part, is planning to avoid stirring any up. "I don't tell church officials what to do," he says, "and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the context of our public life."

The arrogance of this man is breathtaking.

[speedy]

He is Catholic for political purposes only. That is true of most high-level elected Dem Catholics.

[pointsal]

ping....Botox-Johnnie just does not measure up........

[magua]

When the the Catholic Church going to throw the lifegaurd over board?

[Aquinasfan]

In school, we talked about the "obligation" to vote for him because he was Catholic and therefore "better" than any other candidate.

Maybe he was better than Nixon. Regardless, that was a prudential judgment subject to error. The choice today, however, is clear. No Catholic (or any other person) in good conscience can vote for a politician who is pro-death, unless the other candidates are worse pro-death candidates. In such a case, voters can also refrain from voting.

[US admirer]

I was raised catholic although I think as little of Catholicism as I do of Judaism or Protestantism, or of that matter any other religion.

Nevertheless it is every person’s right to be deluded and wrong (yes yes yes including me!), just as long as the "faith" that they have mysteriously come to conclude is the correct “one” does not infringe on others who do not happen to share their certainty and rapture.

That said, Kerry's response to the Archbishop of St-Louis demonstrates monumental arrogance. Just as he understands better than Bush or just about anyone else about what is right for the country, he is also obviously all-knowing about what the church's rights are to dictate the tenets of Catholicism.

"Ban me from communion- F you cardinal and F anybody in the church who would try to stop me from practicing Catholicism, or at least what I say Catholicism is, or at least what it should be according to what I say it should be." If the church had any guts at all it would excommunicate this jerk.

[speedy]

It would be a great day if it happened, but to continue the diving metaphor, don't hold your breath. I will say, though, that there is more of a spotlight now by Church officials on these wayward politicians than I have noticed in the past. I think this subject is going to get a lot hotter.

[BibChr]

FWIW, though no fan of the RCC, I agree with you. If you're going to be something, BE it. If you're not, change.

Dan

[Terry Mross]

I'd bet that if Kennedy and Kerry were told by the church to vote pro-life or be excommunicated, both of them would change their religion before they'd change their votes. It just goes to show that, to them, being a politician IS their religion.

[leprechaun9]

Hey John Freakin' Kerry how about living like a Catholic instead of only professing to be one at election time or when a photo op occurs?

[YankeeReb]

I loved the one line where his paternal grandparents were Jewish, who converted to Catholicism. It just sounds like more of John 'effing trying to be on both sides of something. I seem to recall back before Kerry was known nationally he tried to claim he was Irish when he really wasn't. Maybe someone from MA remembers it.